Thursday, May 22, 2014

Thanks for stopping by!! This is my second entry in the Spring Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side. Here is my "Harper Girl" quilt. I created it for a dear friend's new baby, Harper. I was inspired by this Union Jack Panel from Riley Blake Designs as Harper's mommy loves all thing British.

The quilt measures 30"x39". The letters are machine appliquéd and the quilting is by machine as well. To read more about the quilt or instructions on how to make your own, click here.

Thanks for stopping by! I am entering this quilt in the Spring Bloggers Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side. I recently created this quilt called "Bunny Bricks" and it's one of my favorite. I just can't get enough of those appliqué bunnies!

The quilt measures 38" x 54". The fabric I adore - It's called Grace from Anna Griffin. I machine appliquéd the bunnies and machine quilted the quilt.

I have it hanging in my family room. I made it for Easter, but I can't part with it just yet!!

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Today I am sharing my tutorial for a zippered sunglasses case over on the Therm O Web Blog. What is great about this zipper pouch is the lining is made of flannel so it is soft on the lenses. I love this fabric - it's the "blue" version of the Clementine fabric by Blend. It screams summer to me.

Here you can see the gray flannel inside the pouch:

For the zipper pull, I took apart some owl earrings and used a split ring to attach the owl to the zipper pull. I always am on the look-out for cheap dangly earrings!

It's not too late to sew up one of these in time for Mother's Day. It should only take about 30 minutes!

For a slightly different version…...

cut a 1" square notch out of each corner of the bag when it's in this stage:

Open the notches, and match the seams, sewing a 1/4" seam. This gives the bag a "bottom" and allows the pouch to stand up. I can't decide which one I like the best!

Thursday, May 8, 2014

I have had it in my mind to make these "Bread Blankets" for sometime. I bake a lot of bread, rolls, and especially our secret family recipe Orange Rolls. I like to cover my rising dough with a light weight flour sack towel. The white towels are so plain and boring, so I decided to embellish the towels. The Clementine fabric from Blend lends itself so well to my orange roll making - so I knew I wanted an orange on the towel. Since the recipe is my mother-in-law's, I decided to send her one of these Bread Blankets for Mother's Day.

When you open your flour sack towels, toss them in the wash and dry them, then press them. They will be very wonky.

The towels are much larger than the cookie sheet trays or a bowl of rising dough. Cut the towel as desired, I cut mine 26" x 20". Sew a rolled hem on both sides, then sew a rolled hem on the top and bottom.

Cut your ruffle fabric 2 1/2" x WOF

Sew a rolled hem in the bottom:

Gather the fabric using a ruffling foot - or you can gather by hand.

This will make extra ruffle. Cut the ruffle 1/2" longer than the towel on each side. Fold the ends of the ruffle in 1/4" and 1/4" again and sew a little seam.

Pin into place. You can position your ruffle where ever you like it, of course you can add more ruffles or change up the design. Stitch along the gathering stitch.

Pin the lace into place and sew using matching thread.

Print the pattern and trace it onto the Heat n Bond Lite. The pattern is already printed in reverse. Iron the Heat n Bond to the wrong side of the orange, leaf, and stem fabric. Cut out along the pattern line, peel off the backing and press into place. Outline stitch in black thread 2 times around the shapes.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Today's Mother's Day Tutorial is this cute Citrus inspired Churn Dash Table Quilt. I made this little quilt for my mom (I hope she doesn't read my blog between now and Mother's Day!) My mom is always asking me if I have a little quilt she can put on her table to decorate with and in my parent's backyard are lemon, orange, and lime trees - sooooo when I saw this Clementine fabric from Blend I freaked out!!

I am so in love with this fabric - I want to rip out all my kitchen decor and replace with these fabrics. Here is a little close up of some of the prints I used in this quilt.

Let's get started - you can make this project in a few hours.

Supplies:

fat quarters of spoon print, stripe print, and small fruit print

1/4 yard large citrus print

1/4 yard for binding

3/4 yard for back

batting

Finished Quilt: 25"

Cut (2) 7 1/4" squares of the gray

Cut (2) 7 1/4" squares of the stripe

Cut (4) 3 1/2" squares of the gray

Cut (4) 3 1/2" squares of the stripe

Cut (1) 3 1/2" square of the center square, fussy cut if desired

Draw a diagonal line on the back of the 2 stripe 7 1/4" squares

Layer them right sided together and sew 1/4" along both sides of the diagonal line. Cut on pencil line.

Press toward the dark. These half square triangle blocks finish slightly larger than the desired 6 1/2". This is so you can square the block up and it is nice and even. Lay it on a rotary mat and align the diagonal with the diagonal line on the mat and cut so it measures 6 1/2" square. Do this to each of the 4 blocks.

Sew the 3 1/2" squares in (4) sets like this: Press toward the dark.

Lay out the churn dash block and sew together in rows. Press seams.

Now all that's left is to sew the boarders on. Cut the small fruit into 2" strips. Sew sides, then press, then sew top and bottom. You don't need to measure on this part. Use the block as your guide.

The large citrus print is cut in 4" strips. Sew those on in the same manner as the small fruit strips.